In a power system, an output from a power generation device connected to the power system for regulation of supply and demand of power is generally curtailed (hereinafter referred to as “power generation curtailment”) (e.g., refer to PTL 1). Note that the power system is a system that includes the power generation device and supplies power generated by the power generation device to consumers.
In order to minimize an operating cost of the entire power system, a plan for starting and stopping the power generation device and including the power generation curtailment (hereinafter referred to as a “power generator operation plan”) is further generated.
The power generator operation plan needs to satisfy not only a constraint for matching the supply and demand of power, but also a constraint for stably supplying power to, for example, ensure a short-period regulation capacity, ensure an upward spinning reserve and a downward spinning reserve, and the like (e.g., refer to NPL 1).
The regulation capacity is a capacity to control necessary power supply and demand. The short-period regulation capacity is a regulation capacity in a short period of time relative to a period for the entire power generator operation plan. In general power supply and demand, the short-period regulation capacity is a regulation capacity in units of minutes (e.g., 10 minutes or 30 minutes) or hours (e.g., one hour or two hours).
In this manner, the power generator operation plan needs to be made in consideration of power generation curtailment in the power generation device in such a way as to satisfy the constraints described above.
Further, the power generator operation plan needs to be made in consideration of economic efficiency while satisfying the constraints described above.
In addition, a power generation device using renewable energy (RE) (hereinafter referred to as “RE power generator”) as typified by a photovoltaic power generator and a wind power generator has been widely used.
The power generation curtailment in the RE power generator affects economic efficiency (operating cost). For example, when a combination of power generation curtailment in a plurality of RE power generators (e.g., a photovoltaic power generator group and a wind power generator group) is inappropriate, the necessary short-period regulation capacity and the upward spinning reserve and the downward spinning reserve increase. In order to handle the increase, for example, the number of operating thermal power generators, which require higher operating costs than the RE power generators, increases. In other words, when the power generator operation plan is inappropriate, the operating cost in the power system increases.
Thus, in order to widely use the RE power generators, there is a demand for generating a power generator operation plan capable of appropriately curtailing power generation in the RE power generators included in the power system. In particular, there is a demand for generating a power generator operation plan including a plan for executing power generation curtailment in RE power generation devices (hereinafter referred to as a “power generation curtailment plan”) in such a way as to minimize an operating cost while satisfying the constraints described above.